Fan Fiction

Rain began to fall as the stranger rounded the corner of the block. It was drizzling when his eyes found what he was looking for, raining steadily as he started up the walk. It was pouring by the time he reached the door.

* * *

"State your business, but do not enter." Jack said, eye leering out through a crack in the door.
"My business is entrance," Replied the stranger, his deep voice beginning to resonate, though it had no reason, "and I shall have entrance." With that, his hand flung out, and the door burst back, as if shying from his touch. Jack was flung backwards by the force of the door, slamming against the wall opposite. Jack scrambled to his feet, wavering magic beginning to wreath his hands, and jumped at the much taller stranger.

"Kan! Jaon! Kae!" Rang out the words of binding, and Jack's form was suspended in mid air.
"Damn you." Jack said, voice quiet, but smoldering with a fervor born of his responsibility to protect.
"Do you know who I am, J-Jack?"
"You?! But how? I banished you to wander for eternity!"
The stranger relaxed, sitting on thin air. "Wrong. Humans, simple creatures, we act as if there are no witnesses to things unwitnessed, as if there were not any who know, for some must know. Do you think the worlds truly follow cause and effect?"
"It's worked so far for me." Jack replied dryly. His eyes widen in a strange mix of surprise and fear when he saw Sandra coming through the door. "Run! Get Crystal and Sam, and get out of here! Don't try to fight him!"
"What going on in he-" She had begun, but was cut off by Jack and as she realized what was happening. She possessed the exquisite beauty of the viper, the hypnotizing allure that marks the great masters of death. Four impossibly long fingers adorned her hands; ending in points made to kill. An odd halo of purple hair ringed her horned head, her three eyes narrowing at the stranger. Her body sprung, flying through the air, arms outstretched and teeth beared.
One claw flashed, blurring beyond the sight of the human eye, towards the stranger. The stranger did not move, but merely was else. Talons that would slice through steel like water were stopped dead by his arm. Sandra's eyes, widening for a moment in surprise, glowed with a new light, a fire spawned from the depths of hell. Fire burst out around the stranger, yet it did not touch him; what seemed as a clear eggshell protected his body from the infernal fires, and they receded around it, appearing like as a candle flame for a heartbeat in front of his chest.
He smiled and said, laughter ringing through his voice, "It seems we have reached a predictament. You have something I desperately need, as I have something you do." He waved a hand vaguely, and Jack dropped gently to the ground.
"What do you want, then?" Said Jack, wary of the stranger still.
"Room and board. I can get it no where else, as I need individuals who understand my, ah, abilities." He said, his smile turning wry.
"And what do you think we so desperately need that we would let you stay here?" Asked Sandra, it being her turned to question him.
"Cash." He admitted, pulling out his wallet with a smile.

Chapter 2

"Sandra, wait one second." Jack said, and then switched his attention to the stranger, "We need to talk privately for a moment." The stranger nodded in assent, and Jack tugged at Sandra's arm, who went reluctantly, with one last three-eyed glare at the stranger.
Once they were around the corner, he began to whisper. "There's something wrong about him. I can't tell what, but he's not completely there. If only I had the time to enter the ethereal realms..." He trailed off, lost in thought.
"Well? I don't see how you can't just go in right now. Maybe a little flame will help you." She said, eyes narrowing even more, annoyance beginning to topple the tower of anger inside her.
"Fine, but it's your fault if I get stuck there for a while." Jack said with a sigh, closing his eyes. His eyes remained closed for but a moment, yet is was one that, like the breath taken in fear, dragged on for eternity. His eyes snapped open, widening in shock, his face paling.
"Are you okay?" Sandra said, now looking worried.
"He, he, b-blocked me." Jack managed to stammer, beginning to compose himself. "He smashed me back down. The reason why he's not entirely here is because he's everywhere."
"What?"
"He is simultaneously on every plane of existence. No one should be able to do something like that."
"If no one, then what?" She hissed.
"I don't know. It's not even a magi. Remember about how I told you powerful beings effect their surroundings?"
"Yes." Sandra said impatiently.
"He's somehow learned to use that field to effect his surroundings as he wants. It's been thought possible, but all attempts have failed."
"So what does this make him, all powerful or something?" She said dryly.
"No, no. It just means to be careful around him, okay?" Jack said frantically, waving his arms.
"Fine." Sandra sighed, and went back into the room. "We accept your offer. First things first, what your name?"
"I have none," Said the stranger, "but I was once called John." With that his face clouded in memory, yet in a moment, it had passed. "Yes. You may call me John."

* * *

In the shadows across the street, something even darker moved, and a jagged white line appeared, fading before most would have seen it.

Story by Jack Howlands, inspired (With huge changes from) by Zebra Girl. Disclaimers, copyrights and other stuff that, in all hope, will keep me from being sued follows:
All crap copyright((c)) 2000-2003 by way of Joseph England (jengla22@student.scad.edu). Zebra Girl is hosted on Keenspot (http://www.keenspot.com), a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics and agents of Satan's will on Earth.
(Hey, it's his copyright, not mine.)